English Cottage Gardening: For American Gardeners


Margaret Hensel - 1992
    Her spectacular photographs render the look and atmosphere of these gardens, while her text focuses on easily grown, readily available plants that are adaptable to a wide variety of climatic and soil conditions. In the back of the book—completely updated for this new edition—may be found specific horticultural information on a wide variety of cottage garden plants commonly available in the United States, glossaries of Latin and common names, and a list of sources for old rose varieties. The gardens in this beautiful book are not those of the great estates of England, manicured by staffs of professional gardeners. They are, instead, labors of love on the part of individual homeowners, many of whom started with bleak, rubble-strewn lots and went on to create the enchanted settings pictured here.

The Gardener's Guide to Succulents: A Handbook of Over 125 Exquisite Varieties of Succulents and Cacti


Misa Matsuyama - 2020
    This book provides a beautiful overview of the diversity that succulents have to offer, presenting a wide variety of popular plants to help you create striking, aesthetically pleasing compositions.This succulent guide includes information about: What each variety needs and where it thrivesPlant characteristics, with ratings on ease of growth and maintenance requirementsIdeas for group plantings and illustrated tips on indoor plantingStriking identification photos, rich in color and contrastThis succulent encyclopedia is a useful resource for everyone--from cacti beginners looking to decorate their living space to serious gardeners hoping to expand their succulent plantings.

Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure


William Thomas Fernie - 1895
    "From primitive times the term "Herbal Simple" has been applied to any homely curative remedy consisting of one ingredient only, and that of a vegetable nature."

12 Healing Herbal Recipes: Herbal Medicine The Delicious Way


Mary Thibodeau - 2016
    If you are interested in maximizing this health strategy by incorporating highly medicinal and nutritive herbs and spices, then this book is for you. There exists a line between nutrition and herbal medicine that represents a very gray area when it comes to our diet. This book is about that line – and how to discover delicious foods that provide not only nutrition, but also many medicinal benefits. These cross-over foods, as I like to call them, include some of nature’s most potent herbal remedies. Not only do they offer herbal healing, but they also provide a high level of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, amino acids, energy giving carbs and essential fatty acids. In modern society, our main food sources purchased at grocery stores and restaurants are often lacking in necessary Vitamins and Minerals, and are abundant in artificial ingredients, dangerous additives and excess fat and sodium. As a result, many of us are nutrient deficient and sick. The 12 recipes in this book all include herbs and foods that are nutrient dense and medicinally dynamic. Incorporating these amazingly sumptuous dishes into your diet can bring your level of natural wellness up to a higher level. “12 Healing Herbal Recipes: Herbal Medicine The Delicious Way” focuses on super foods and herbs like Basil, Cayenne, Dandelion, Thyme, and many more. Each recipe is complete with a nutritional summary and breakdown of the featured herbs. Enjoying herbal remedies and nutrient dense foods (sometimes they are one and the same!) as part of your regular meals translates into the best bang for your buck when it comes to eating healthy (and I don’t just mean money savings!). These are all recipes that I prepare regularly – they have all been developed by me over the years and have been personally taste tested by my family, my friends and me. Discover how herbal remedies and healthy spices can be integrated into your diet with these twelve easy recipes: Mango Cilantro Salad Passionflower Blend Tea Carob Flax Fudge Super Hummus Creamy Mushroom Soup Pickled Garlic Cold Curried Rice Salad Dandy Green Smoothie Spicy Guacamole Chaga Coffee Herbal Marinara Basil Pesto Download today and start making the most of these amazingly simple herbal healing recipes!

Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources


M. Kat Anderson - 2005
    But as this groundbreaking book demonstrates, what Muir was really seeing when he admired the grand vistas of Yosemite and the gold and purple flowers carpeting the Central Valley were the fertile gardens of the Sierra Miwok and Valley Yokuts Indians, modified and made productive by centuries of harvesting, tilling, sowing, pruning, and burning. Marvelously detailed and beautifully written, Tending the Wild is an unparalleled examination of Native American knowledge and uses of California's natural resources that reshapes our understanding of native cultures and shows how we might begin to use their knowledge in our own conservation efforts.M. Kat Anderson presents a wealth of information on native land management practices gleaned in part from interviews and correspondence with Native Americans who recall what their grandparents told them about how and when areas were burned, which plants were eaten and which were used for basketry, and how plants were tended. The complex picture that emerges from this and other historical source material dispels the hunter-gatherer stereotype long perpetuated in anthropological and historical literature. We come to see California's indigenous people as active agents of environmental change and stewardship. Tending the Wild persuasively argues that this traditional ecological knowledge is essential if we are to successfully meet the challenge of living sustainably.

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer


Novella Carpenter - 2009
    At the same time, she can't shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hippies who taught her to love nature and eat vegetables. Ambivalent about repeating her parents' disastrous mistakes, yet drawn to the idea of backyard self-sufficiency, Carpenter decided that it might be possible to have it both ways: a homegrown vegetable plot as well as museums, bars, concerts, and a twenty-four-hour convenience mart mere minutes away. Especially when she moved to a ramshackle house in inner city Oakland and discovered a weed-choked, garbage-strewn abandoned lot next door. She closed her eyes and pictured heirloom tomatoes, a beehive, and a chicken coop.What started out as a few egg-laying chickens led to turkeys, geese, and ducks. Soon, some rabbits joined the fun, then two three-hundred-pound pigs. And no, these charming and eccentric animals weren't pets; she was a farmer, not a zookeeper. Novella was raising these animals for dinner. Novella Carpenter's corner of downtown Oakland is populated by unforgettable characters. Lana (anal spelled backward, she reminds us) runs a speakeasy across the street and refuses to hurt even a fly, let alone condone raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Bobby, the homeless man who collects cars and car parts just outside the farm, is an invaluable neighborhood concierge. The turkeys, Harold and Maude, tend to escape on a daily basis to cavort with the prostitutes hanging around just off the highway nearby. Every day on this strange and beautiful farm, urban meets rural in the most surprising ways.For anyone who has ever grown herbs on their windowsill, tomatoes on their fire escape, or obsessed over the offerings at the local farmers' market, Carpenter's story will capture your heart. And if you've ever considered leaving it all behind to become a farmer outside the city limits, or looked at the abandoned lot next door with a gleam in your eye, consider this both a cautionary tale and a full-throated call to action. Farm City is an unforgettably charming memoir, full of hilarious moments, fascinating farmers' tips, and a great deal of heart. It is also a moving meditation on urban life versus the natural world and what we have given up to live the way we do.(jacket)

Skin Deep


Anne Hjelle - 2012
    This is not the face I know so well. I am looking at the handiwork of a mountain lion; he ambushed me while I was biking in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park on January 8th, 2004. My neck sustained more than ten deep bite wounds and my mangled face was pieced together using more than 200 stitches and staples.' - Anne Hjelle. 'Skin Deep' tells the incredible true story of one woman's battle for survival following a vicious mountain lion attack and the daunting emotional and physical challenges she faced during her recovery. In moving detail, Anne Hjelle's describes her transformation from a wounded victim to a survivor, a woman who managed to come to terms with her new identity, and learned to live by the words ‘feed your faith, not your fear’. From her first surgery, to the day she went back to Cactus Hill Trail- the scene of her near death experience, Anne tells all in this captivating and evocative personal account which will both move and terrify you from the first page to the last. 'Skin Deep' is an inspiring personal story of tragedy and renewal, a book about what is important in life and about the nature of beauty. There are more details at www.annehjelle.com. Anne Hjelle is originally from Apple Valley, Minn., but came to live in California while serving in the United States Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic. Anne has worked in the fitness industry as a personal trainer for the past 16 years. She is a regular public speaker telling the story of surviving the mountain lion attack, and of her life journey thereafter.Damien Lewis is an award winning and internationally best-selling British author, published in some thirty-six languages worldwide. He has co-authored several powerful and compelling memoirs with women, including the acclaimed international number one best-seller 'Slave' co-written with Mende NazerGreg Hardesty is a well-known journalist, trail runner and outdoor enthusiast in Orange County, California. He has been an award-winning reporter for nearly 25 years, covering general news, crime and business for the Orange County Register for the last 13 years. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher.

Gardenista: The Definitive Guide to Stylish Outdoor Spaces


Michelle Slatalla - 2016
    The team behind the inspirational design sites Gardenista.com and Remodelista.com presents an all-in-one manual for making your outdoor space as welcoming as your living room. Tour personality-filled gardens around the world and re-create the looks with no-fail planting palettes. Find hundreds of design tips and easy DIYs, editors’ picks of 100 classic (and stylish) objects, a landscaping primer with tips from pros, over 200 resources, and so much more.

Planting for Honeybees: The Grower's Guide to Creating a Buzz


Sarah Wyndham Lewis - 2018
    In recent years, the shrinking of green spaces has endangered the honeybee. Now Planting for Honeybees shows you how you can help these delightful pollinators to flourish by creating a garden as habitat for them. No matter how small or large your space – from a window ledge in the city to a country garden – Sarah Wyndham Lewis offers practical advice on which plants to grow and when and where to plant them. Charmingly illustrated with delicate drawings, this a jewel of a guide to treasure.

The Lies That Bind: An Adoptee's Journey Through Rejection, Redirection, DNA, and Discovery


Laureen Pittman - 2019
     Born in a California women’s prison in 1963, Laureen Pittman was relinquished for adoption. As a child, Laureen was conditioned to believe that being adopted didn’t matter. So, it didn’t . . . until it did. Through scraps of information, Laureen stitched together her history – one that started in the psychedelic sixties and ended up in a future where DNA could solve mysteries. She never imagined that spitting into a plastic tube, along with painstaking research and the explosion of technology would reveal the answers to her identity. Laureen’s tale is for anyone who has ever questioned who they are, where they came from, or how they fit in. Her journey to find her truth illustrates the strength and power of our need for connection, belonging, and healing through knowledge. What people are saying about The Lies That Bind "Pittman walks, with grace and wisdom, through the uncharted and difficult territory, where she uncovers secrets long buried and finds those who embrace one another as a family. Hers is a story of resilience and tenacity. It is about the peace that comes when we are in the shadows no more, and it will inspire others on their own healing path." ~ Linda Hoye, Author of Two Hearts: An Adoptee’s Journey Through Grief to Gratitude "Laureen’s tale from the point of view of an adoptee is one of incredible bravery and courage. Her beautiful voice echoes through the pages with pain and joy, disappointment and redemption. No matter if you have been involved in adoption directly or not, there is beauty to be found in this heart-wrenching book." ~ From the Foreword by Angie Martin, Bestselling & Award-winning author of Conduit and Chrysalis

Ruthless: A Memoir


Jerry Heller - 2006
    In the battle of his life over the ragingly successful music label he had helped found, Ruthless Records, Heller had seen death threats, strong-arming, and beatings. Now the violence had come home when his enemies burglarized his house, jacked his Corvette, and left behind this sneering piece of graffito.Heller didn't get mad; he got even. "Ruthless" tells the explosive story of Jerry Heller's alliance with Eric Wright, aka Eazy-E, one of the legends of rap music and a founding member of N.W.A., "the world's most dangerous band." As a longtime music industry superagent, Heller had the skill and insight necessary to guide N.W.A.'s cometlike rise to the top of the charts. Along the way there were raucous nationwide tours, out-of-control MTV pool parties, and X-rated business meetings. Heller held on through the brutal shocks and reversals of the Ruthless Records era, which saw the label being targeted by the FBI, and its principal artists locked in bitter conflict, until a final turnaround placed Ruthless at the top of the heap once more. Always in the middle of the whirlwind were Jerry and Eazy, an odd-couple pairing that represents one of the deepest and most appealing stories in American music.You don't have to be an N.W.A. fan to love "Ruthless," Heller turns the music industry inside out, exposing its strange logic and larger-than-life personalities. "Ruthless" provides keen insight into the popular music scene, with an unforgettable portrait of its rollicking excesses, life-churning drama, and multimillion-dollar highs.

The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual: Essential Gardening Know-how for Keeping (Not Killing!) More Than 160 Indoor Plants


Barbara Pleasant - 2005
    Even experienced houseplant enthusiasts will benefit from Pleasant’s expansive knowledge of indoor gardening, which includes personality profiles, growing needs, and troubleshooting tips for 160 blooming and foliage varieties. Create a greener world, one houseplant at a time.

Be Not Content: A Subterranean Journal


William J. Craddock - 1970
    This 50th Anniversary edition contains a new foreword by his publisher and friend, Jay Shore, and an introduction by his sister, Diane Craddock, as well as a selection of photos, drawings and other writings by Craddock."Superb in the tradition of Kerouac’s On The Road, with overtones of Ken Kesey and Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, but Craddock’s style is all his own." — Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times"The definitive book of the acid-freak movement. A psychedelic pilgrim’s progress of beauty, intelligence, sensitivity." — Joseph Haas, Chicago Daily News"An astounding book, so good it defies praise. The writing is superb. Craddock is a born writer with an iceberg of talent." — Shane Stevens, Chicago Sun Times"Willam J. Craddock’s masterpiece, legendary to those in the know, is as exhilarating now as ever." — Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen, long listed for the 2016 National Book AwardMostly autobiographical, Be Not Content begins with the 16-year-old Craddock riding his beloved Harley Davidson with the Hells Angels, the outlaw motorcycle club, and getting into brawls and being chased by the cops. It’s an unexpected anomaly for this bright, middle-class kid from Los Gatos, California. Craddock then takes us through his college days publishing an underground newspaper, attending poetry readings with Alan Ginsberg, tripping at one of the first acid tests, and taking for days on end the strongest, most pure doses LSD. All of it done for the purpose of Craddock discovering the meaning of life.Barely 21 when he finished writing it, Doubleday bought the book in 1968 but held up publication until 1970. The first edition sold out with collectors prizing the few copies available, and copies going for as much as $950 on the Internet. Be Not Content is a powerful literary coming of age narrative that millions of Americans can personally identify with – an unforgettable time in the cultural and sociological history of America.

The Unexpected Houseplant: 220 Extraordinary Choices for Every Spot in Your Home


Tovah Martin - 2012
    Martin's approach is revolutionary—picture brilliant spring bulbs by the bed, lush perennials brought in from the garden, quirky succulents in the kitchen, even flowering vines and small trees growing beside an easy chair. Martin brings an evangelist's zeal to the task of convincing homeowners that indoor plants aren't just a luxury—they're a necessity. In addition to design flair, houseplants clean indoor air, which can be up to ten times more polluted. Along with loads of visual inspiration, readers will learn how to make unusual selections, where to best position plants in the home, and valuable tips on watering, feeding, grooming, pruning, and troubleshooting, season by season.

The Curious Gardener


Anna Pavord - 2010
    In The Curious Gardener, Anna Pavord brings together in 12 chapters - one from each month of the year - 72 pieces on all aspects of gardening.From what to do in each month and how to get the best from flowers, plants, herbs, fruit and vegetables, through reflections on the weather, soil, the English landscape and favourite old gardening clothes, to office greenery, spring in New York, waterfalls, Derek Jarman and garden design, Anna Pavord always has something interesting to say and says it with great style and candour.The perfect book to guide you through the gardening year and, on days when the weather keeps the most courageous gardener indoors, the perfect book to curl up with beside the fire.